Brianna Wiest - The Mountain Is You_ Transforming Self-Sabotage Into Self-Mastery (2020)

208 BRIANNA WIEST
If you’ve ever sat in a meditation class, you’ll know that
the first principle of mind control is the opposite of what
you’d think: It’s about letting go.
To truly master the mind, the Buddhists practice non-attachment,
in which they sit placidly, breathe steadily, and
allow thoughts to rise up, cohere, and then pass.
Their approach is that controlling the mind is actually a
matter of surrendering to the mind, allowing it to behave
as it pleases while regulating their reaction to it.
HOW DO YOU KNOW IF YOU’RE SUPPRESSING YOUR
EMOTIONS OR CONTROLLING THEM?
Emotional suppression is a regulation strategy that people
use when they do not have adequate coping mechanisms
for their feelings.
The pattern is often this: The person denies or ignores
their true reaction to a situation or experience, believes it
will simply go away if they continue to disregard it, finds
that their day-to-day lives are disrupted by a sense of unease,
and one day, it all comes to a breaking point and they
have an emotional outburst that they cannot control.
Therapy generally aims to help patients no longer suppress
how they feel. Instead, they are encouraged to recognize
those emotions but choose how they respond to them.